In comments to the Postal Regulatory Commission on March 1, SIIA urged a rethink of proposed new rate authority for the Postal Service that could result in increases for first class mail and periodicals in the neighborhoods of 30 and 40 percent, respectively.

Today, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) initiated its long-awaited review of the postal rate system for regulating rates and classes of mail.  This review was ordered by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, enacted in 2006, establishing the rate cap system we have experienced over the last ten years.  Pursuant to that legislation, the PRC is required to review the current system to determine whether the current system is achieving the objectives established by Congress. If the PRC finds that the objectives, taking into account various factors, are not being met, it has the authority to either propose rules that modify the system or adopt an alternative system to achieve the objectives.

Today, the U.S. Postal Service announced via its Postal Explorer webpage that it will move forward the expected rollback of the 4.3% exigent rate increase for market dominant products. The revised prices reflecting those reduced rates are contained in their webpage. The exigent rate increase went into effect in January of 2014. Expiration of this temporary increase has been expected, as the cost recovery established by the Postal Regulatory Commission will be fulfilled around the end of March or first part of April. As the USPS noted in their statement, Congressional or Court action is still possible which could extend or make the rate permanent, but absent such action, the Postal Service intends to provide formal notice to the PRC 45 days prior to the date it projects the exigent surcharge revenue target will be reached. 

The Postal Service filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia, this week, arguing that the Postal Regulatory Commission was wrong in its most recent ruling on the exigent rate increase. As expected, the Postal Service wants the case remanded to the Postal Regulatory Commission for further review so that it can renew its arguments for an extension of the 4.3% surcharge, which otherwise will come to an end sometime this spring—most likely in April.

At 4pm Tuesday, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) announced its approval of an exigent rate increase of 4.3%, the full amount requested in September by the U.S. Postal Service. Commented David LeDuc, SIIA’s senior director, public policy, “We are extremely disappointed that the PRC chose to move forward with the exigent rate increase, as this action places a significant cost burden on many of our members. With the previously approved CPI increase of 1.7% and the announcement today of the 4.3% exigent rate increase, the full amount of this year’s increase equals 6.0%. The only bright spot in the Commission’s ruling today was the denial of the Postal Service’s request to make the increases permanent, instead the Commission ruled the exigent increase is only applicable for ‘less than two years.’”